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Saturday 28 June 2014

A large species database has been built.

28th June 2014
A LARGE SPECIES DATABASE HAS BEEN BUILT
Today the Trust shared with its members a large photographic database of species/taxon that they have been working on over the last few months. This has been achieved by members of the Speckled Wood site who have been identifying species through the community page where photographs have been placed from Speckled Wood. The site http://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/ has been instrumental in achieving this as has the Sussex Wildlife Trust. The database stands at 163 records and is growing. The Speckled Wood site is still under threat from individuals who are trying to make money from this community space and asset.

Thursday 26 June 2014

Trust Members clear the top glade

26th June 2014
TRUST MEMBERS CLEAR THE TOP GLADE.
Trust members of Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust have been busy in the Woodland today weeding the top glade . Two and a half hours where taken clearing out the ground so that the glade is clear and ready for the rain that is predicted.

Please not the Trust website has been forced  to move. It is here http://www.friendsofspeckledwoodmanagementtrust.org.uk/gb/ 

Saturday 14 June 2014

Google Maps finally Updated

14th June 2014
GOOGLE MAPS FINALLY UPDATE.
The Trust has been working with Google to bring up-to-date the maps in Ore. The main area which was out of date was Speckled wood. The map now shows what is in the area. The Trust members have worked for over six months to get to this point.

Please not the Trust website has moved
http://www.friendsofspeckledwoodmanagementtrust.org.uk/

Monday 9 June 2014

Old website is being used by another group

09 June 2014
OLD WEBSITE BEING USED BY ANOTHER GROUP.

The Friends of Speckled Wood are outraged at the use of its previous domain to support damage to the Village Green and to Change it to something this Group wants. Mr Tony Polain formally of Friends of Speckled Wood is now part of the group Ore Community Land Trust. The Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust was held to randsome last week when Mr Polains company Uniserve deleted files from the groups server stating that "There is still time to work it out" .  The Trust asked Mr Polain in 2012 to provide a website domain which they requested. It seems Mr Polains registered this site in his own company name Uniserve.

Today the site changed from giving a message 404 not available to now report a single link to something the group does not support (See image).

The Chairman learned today that a council member who is part of this group and who has previously been asked to leave planning meetings because of his views in favor of another group has been give the position of Chair of the Planning Meetings. The Trust ask the Hastings Borough Council is this member going to vacate his Chair when  an item were this Councillor has an interest comes up. A letter has gone out to Chief Legal confirming whether this appointment has been made.

Who is this organization are they working for the developer. In 2012 they would do nothing but accept the Councils plans . Now there literature says they are making the village Green larger extending it into the Woodland
 "clearance of some non indigenous Sycamore trees back scrub"
to achieve this and an outdoor performance space. Why would an organization shut down our website after registering it as  their own when asked to register it as our organization. There is no other information on this site to say who is behind this.

You have been warned. Do not Vote! We do not know where this vote is going.

The Trust has been cutting back the foopaths in Speckled Wood

09 June 2014
THE TRUST HAS BEEN CUTTING BACK THE FOOTPATHS IN SPECKLED WOOD
Th Trust members this morning went out and cut back all the footpaths before it rained as part of their http://www.friendsofspeckledwoodmanagamenttrust.org.uk/documents/management%20plan%202012/FOSW%20Management%20Plan.htm .
This plan was submitted before the Hastings Cabinet 2012 requesting the Council make the Speckled wood site an LNR or SSSI this was refused at Cabinet despite what it seems as procedures not being followed at the time. The Trust has learned recently that the  Natural England had never been contacted by the Council in reference to the prospective Local Nature Reserve or Special Site Scientific Interest. A letter has gone out to Chief Legal asking for an explanation. You can see in the Frederick Road entrance there is an abandoned un-taxed vehicle.

Friday 6 June 2014

Help Show Speckled Wood is a Community Asset

07th June 2014
HELP SHOW SPECKLEDWOOD IS A COMMUNITY ASSET
Join the Trust members today at the Ore Community Centre this morning from 10am to 1pm. The Trust is collecting activity responses from the public. The response takes 5 mins to complete and will hopefully allow Speckled Wood to be registered as a community asset. This has the potential to stave of a purchase for six months and bring in a purse to help buy the Woodland.

The Woodland was declared and open space in 1930 and has been used by the community for 84 years .

The Trust would like you to come along and have some fun and tell us what you like to do in Speckled Wood or have done or will be doing.

Located in the village The Ore Centre is located at 455 Old London Road, TN35 5BH Hastings, East Sussex. It is easy to find by public bus or by car or by walking.

The Trust and Charity Web services are back online

06th June 2014
THE TRUST AND CHARITY WEB SERVICES ARE BACK ON LINE
The Trust web services all came back on line today on a new site . The company who provided the domain to the Trust did not register the domain in the Trusts name instead registering it in its own.

The Trust Chairman said that he had heard of this happening recently from other organizations.

The Chairman has asked the public not to use the www.friendsofspeckledwood.org.uk site it is not currently used by the Trust or Charity at all. The name Friends of Speckled Wood is still a name for the group as described in its Constitution.

The new site is at http://www.friendsofspeckledwoodmanagementtrust.org.uk/gb/
The Trust wishes to warn anyone buying web services in the voluntary sector to register their own domains and not ask a company to do this for them. 


4th Hastings Scouts had a wonderful community day in Speckled Wood

6th June 2014
THE 4TH HASTINGS SCOUTS HAD A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY DAY IN SPECKLED WOOD.

The Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust invited the 4th Hastings Scout troop to help in the Woodland as part of its Community Day. The Day traditionally has been known in the scouting world as bob-a-job day. The scouts new figure head Bear Grylls has asked the scouts to focus on their own community.

The scouts had a fabulous time pulling up the Japanese Knotweed . The Trust is hoping to obtain trees as part of its community project to re stock this area and restore it back to its original Woodland.  The Trust has already six months ago contacted an agency in respect of the trees and will hear back if this is successful in October 2014.

The Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust want to thank the Scouts for their help in this community project and look forward to the next event being planned.

(Photo credited - Stewart Hayler)

Thursday 5 June 2014

Sewage Work finally finishes in Speckled Wood

05 June 2014
SEWAGE WORK FINALLY FINISHES IN SPECKLED WOOD
Clancy Docwra told the Trust this morning that they would finish their sewage work today and the Woodland would be returned to its previous state.

The Trust are very pleased the work has finished . The Trust wish to thank Clancy Docwra .

Wednesday 4 June 2014

The Trust website is attacked and they are held to ransom

4th June 2014
THE TRUST WEBSITE IS ATTACKED AND THEY ARE HELD TO RANSOM.

The http://www.friendsofspeckledwood.org.uk website which they had been using for over two years after asking Mr Tony Polain a previous Trust member to register a site domain for them , when they first started. The site suffered directory deletions and attacks for the first two days this week. 

The problems came soon after  threats where made to the organization asking for material to be removed from Facebook pages. It seems the information they were being asked to remove came from one of  Mr Polain's own organization. An email came shortly stating that this individual could run this site if  an arrangement could be made.

The Trust has set up a new site at http://www.friendsofspeckledwoodmanagmenttrust.org.uk which is due to go online shortly. The matter has been reported to the police.  


Monday 2 June 2014

Clancy Docwra start work in Speckled Wood

2nd June 2014
CLANCY DOCWRA START WORK IN SPECKLEDWOOD

Today the Sewage work that the Trust had been discussing with South East Water started today. The contractor Clancy Docwra has agreed to dig the site by hand and make repairs to the sewage system. Camera work had found that the union between the steel and clay pipes has failed. A fence has been erected and the workers are doing a fabulous job in a smashing place to work. The Trust all of the agencies who have worked with them to achieve this end  with the minimum of disruption. Please go down and thank them for this help and show some appreciation please.

Sunday 1 June 2014

Update on Consultation

1st June 2014
UPDATE ON CONSULTATION 
 3560 Objections against development in Speckled Wood have been delivered to the Council from the Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust to-date.

In May 2014 The Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust approached the Legal Department of the Council to ask to be able to take the responses it had collected responses to the next available Hasting Cabinet meeting. This was opposed by the Hastings Borough Council on the grounds that the responses where individual responses and not a petition. The Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust was told they required (1500) Petitions to get this matter of Speckled Wood back in to Cabinet and that this would have to be a new item not the same request as it was in 2012. Yet the Development Management Plan is due to be ratified at both Council and Cabinet later in the year!

In April 2014 the Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust again unsatisfied with the Development Management Plan Consultation was forced to run its own consultation on Speckled Wood (http://www.friendsofspeckledwood.org.uk/gb/news/2014%20-%2004-25%20-%20Observer%20News%20Story%2034.pdf) again (1236) one thousand two hundred and thirty six objections were collected

(1236) One thousand two hundred and thirty six objections OBJECTION DEMANDING NO DEVELOPMENT IN SPECKLED WOOD, AND DEMANDING SPECKLED WOOD TO BE REMOVED FROM THE DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN.

At the beginning of 2014 Friends of Speckled Management Trust and HMRC Charity collected:
(666) six hundred and sixty six objections
against developing the Speckled Wood area near Victoria Avenue.

During 2013 The Friends of Speckled Management Trust and HMRC Charity worked on making the woodland a safer place removing over 30 skip loads of tipped waste from the site with no financial benefit to the Trust.

In December 2012 The Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust  set up the www.speckledwood.org.uk/en site to collect signatures to show the public support for the Area to become an Local Nature Reserve or Special Site of Scientific Interest since this date:
(447) four  hundred and forty seven representations
have been made supporting the area becoming a SSSI or LNR.

At the end of 2012 the Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust took this huge response to the Hastings Borough Council as a Petition. The Council agreed to set aside a portion of the Woodland  as Open Space and declare this a Local Nature Reserve when agreement could be reached with the land owners: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/speckled-wood-campaigners-lose-reserve-bid-1-4460312


The Trust have been collecting and campaigning against development of Speckled Wood since 2012. In 2012 the Friends of Speckled Wood  was forced to put on its own consultation in response to the DMP The Chairman has stated "The process seemed unfair".
(1231 )one thousand two hundred and thirty one objections
were obtained and delivered to Hasting Borough Council. The Hastings Observer covered this: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/local/campaigners-hand-over-petition-in-a-bid-to-protect-speckled-wood-in-ore-1-4236497